News

February Newsletter

Released the week of 2/27/12

Successful Implementation of a Care Transitions Coaching Tool by the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services

The Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services (DADS), a CTA Tech4Impact grantee, implemented The Care Transitions Coaching Tool to facilitate the delivery and evaluation of the Care Transitions Intervention® (CTI). CTI is a care management strategy that is increasingly being used to successfully improve care following hospitalizations and to prevent avoidable rehospitalizations. The Care Transitions Coaching Tool, using an ACCESS database platform, was developed based on feedback from multiple stakeholders delivering the Care Transitions Intervention® in hospitals and community-settings. Use of the tool has resulted in a savings of up to 20 hours per week of a care transition coach’s time and up to 19 hours per week of supervisor time, which translates into a savings of approximately $969/week in personnel costs. Blog

This issue brief is primarily intended for key decision makers at health plans implementing programs to integrate care for dual eligibles as well as for policy makers at the state and federal levels. This brief identifies specific strategies derived from successful telehealth-based programs that could enable health plans to improve health, improve the patient experience and access, and reduce costs. Issue Brief

Center for Technology and Aging (CTA)-Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) Consumer eHealth Affinity Group Session Highlights Provider Engagement Strategies from NEHI, Atrius Health and Utah Beacon Community

Project staff from HealthInsight, the Utah Beacon Community, and the New England Healthcare Institute (NEHI)/Atrius Healh, a research center/health system partnership, discussed successful provider engagement strategies within their respective mHealth and Telehealth CTA projects. The webinar covered strategies for overcoming provider resistance and how to introduce innovative projects in organizations that are grappling with a busy quality improvement agenda. Presentation

CTA's Top Ten of 2011

The top 10 articles, reports and initiatives from the Center for Technology and Aging that drew the most interest from readers in 2011 covered a wide range of topics, from the Center’s grantees’ project outcomes, to advances in patient-centered technologies, to collaboration efforts between CTA and the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) and the Administration on Aging (AoA), to lessons learned and best practices on how to take patient-centered technology-enabled interventions to scale. Blog

A major advancement in the application of telehealth in California, as well as potentially for the nation, was initiated through the passage of the California Telehealth Advancement Act of 2011. This brief by the Center for Connected Health Policy and the California Telemedicine and eHealth Center (CTEC) reviews the impact of the Telehealth Advancement Act of 2011, providing insight on what the act does and does not do. Policy Brief